ANIMORPHS: The Game
by spazzoid3
Summary: A MegaMorphs Book: The Ellimist has created a new animorph and she is joining the others in the ultimate battle against the Yeerks. Mucho Marco and Rachel and a little bit of lovin'. Not between the two of them, though. COMPLETE.
1. Jake

AUTHOR's NOTES: Okay, I wrote this quite a while ago at the ripe age of 15 or so. Wow. And I actually finished it! Amazing! I never do that anymore! Anyways, I only read the first 25 books prior to writing this, and the first MegaMorphs book (obviously). I have no relation/profit from Animorphs, Scolastic Inc., or K.A. Applegate. And Allie is merely my own twisted creation - the result of a satifyingly long crush on Marco. Don't ya just hate it when you fall in love with somebody in a book? I know I do. So, as I previously mentioned, this is the finished product. I will not be updating (unless there are requests). But the whole story is here and told. Enjoy. Word.

CHAPTER 1

Jake

MY NAME IS JAKE. And that's basically all the personal information I can tell you. No last name, no address...nothing. You see, there is a war going on. A war that very few no about. There's me and my friends on one side, and life-sucking slugs on the other. 

The slugs are the Yeerks. Horrible creatures that infest the bodies of beings of all races. They use their controlling powers by seeping into every crevice in your brain, reading it as though it was nothing more than a book. The host is powerless against these paralyzing beings as they invade the mind with no boundaries.

I know. I've had one inside my head before. Not a nice time.

Nevertheless, I'm Yeerk-free and determined to stop them before they enslave their next victims: humans. The only weapon we have against them is that my friends - Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias - and I all have the ability to morph into other animals. We're the animorphs. All we have to do is touch an animal and we automatically absorb the DNA from that animal and we can literally turn into them.

We were given this power from a great ally: the Andalites. The Andalites can also change form. They are from another planet and have come to earth to stop and destroy the Yeerks. Ax is also a member of our small battle group. He is a kid Andalite, just like we're kids, and it's up to us to stop the Yeerks from destroying the earth and turning the human race into slaves.

Having to save the earth and maintain a normal life is almost impossible. Sure, we're defending the human race but we still have to study for that biology exam and finish the geometry assignment in time. And let's not forget sports.

Rachel, my cousin and fellow animorph, is an excellent gymnast. She's blonde and looks like she just walked off the cover of one of those beauty magazines. It was a Tuesday afternoon and we all decided to attend her gymnastics meet.

I was sitting between Cassie and Marco. Marco is my best friend. He's a smart-aleck, always trying to make a joke. He gets annoying, but I'm used to it. Cassie is...well, she a good friend. A close friend. A trusted friend. I could tell her anything and she would look at me with those understanding eyes and make everything all right. She's Rachel's best friend, and unlike Rachel, the super shopper, Cassie is more down-to-earth. Marco calls her a tree-hugger and constantly accuses her of wearing Birkenstocks. She loves animals. Her barn is the local wildlife rehabilitation center and her mom works at the local zoo, the Gardens. Cassie is definitely falling in their footsteps.

Tobias was sitting next to Marco, his eyes intensely watching Rachel. They probably would be dating if Tobias didn't live life as a red-tailed hawk. You see, morphing has a two-hour time limit. Once your in morph for longer than the time limit, you're stuck as that animal. For a while, he was permanently a red-tailed hawk, but then the Ellimist gave him back his morphing power.

The Ellimist is kind of the Supreme Being of the universe. He claims he can't interfere but yet he continues to disturb our lives. He's got this war going on with an evil creature called the Crayak. We're on the Ellimist's team along with Erek. Erek is an android disguised as a student our age. He was created by an ancient race called the Pemalites. The Pemalites were a peaceful race and programmed their androids so that they can't cause or be involved in any violence.

Then there's Ax, who was sitting next to Cassie. Ax was in his human form, which is a mix between a handsome girl and a cute guy. He combined DNA from me, Marco, Rachel, and Cassie to create his human morph. He was dazed at the commotion of the meet and muttering quietly to himself, probably thinking about cinnamon buns. You see, Andalites don't have mouths, so anytime that Ax could eat human food, it was the only thing he could think about. Cinnamon buns are his food of choice, although chocolate isn't far behind.

Rachael was on the balance beam, concentrating hard and she attempted a cartwheel. When she was halfway through it - in fact, she was upside down - time stopped.

We all groaned.

Everything, everyone, was frozen. Rachel quickly finished her cartwheel and dismounted. She pouted.

"Come on! That was perfect! Now the stupid Ellimist has to come. Great. Just great."

Whenever time stopped, we knew the Ellimist was contacting us, and whenever he/she/it did, it was bad news.

We all stood up from the bench as Ax changed back to his Andalite form which is like a blue deer, only with arms and two antennae with eyes sprouting out of his head.

Erek also appeared at the scene, covered by his hologram.

"Well..." Marco said, tapping his foot impatiently. "We're all here and waiting for the bad news..."

A blue light entered the gymnasium, gleaming with intense power. The form of a human took shape through the shadows. The Ellimist always has to make an entrance.

Greetings, my friends. I have come with news of our battle with Crayak. The Ellimist and Ax speak with this skill we call thought-speech. We can "hear" it in our minds, not with our ears. We also use thought-speech when we're in morph.

"You mean _your_ battle with the Crayak," Rachel said.

The Ellimist ignored her. We have altered the rules. We have decided to add another member to each of our teams.

"Like another Andalite?" I questioned.

Yes, the Ellimist replied. Except I"ve decided to add another human with the morphing capability.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...we don't even have a choice about this?" Marco asked.

"We're already had an experience with using that blue box to make another animorph and it was horrible," Cassie said. "We ended up turning him into a rat for the rest of his life."

I know of your experience with David, the Ellimist said. This is different. This girl is prepared for her life to change. She already has the power to morph. In fact, she will be new at your school tomorrow. You are to find her.

"How do we do that?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah," Marco agreed, "are we just supposed to walk up to her and ask her if she can change into animals?"

She will also be looking for you. For Jake.

"Can't you give us any clues?" I asked. "What she looks like, what grade she's in?"

All I can tell you is that her name starts with the letter A.

"That's it? Have you even seen her?" Tobias said.

"He can't give us too many clues," Erek interjected. "Remember, he can't interfere."

"How is this not interfering?" Rachael cried. "You break Andalite law - or whatever the heck it is - by giving the morphing power to an unsuspecting human girl?! Does she even know about the Yeerks?"

Oh yes. She will prove to be a great asset in the future. She understands.

"So we're just suppose to trust this girl?" I asked. "How do we know that she's not a Yeerk?"

That is why I'm telling you now, the Ellimist answered. She knows as much of the Yeerk invasion as you do, if not more.

But we still have a choice? Ax questioned.

The Ellimist hesitated. Yes, you do. You cannot accept her. But believe me, that would be a grave mistake. I am adding her to your group for extra help, not to burden you. I thought this would be good news.

"Yeah, we'll wait to thank you until we meet her," Marco said.

"So all we have to do is find her tomorrow? Just ask around?" I questioned.

Yes. And she will also be looking for Jake. This mission is not that difficult. All I'm asking you to do is accept this girl. Be kind to her. You will realize how valuable she is to your missions.

And suddenly, we were back at the gymnastics meet. Erek was gone. Ax was human. Rachel was back on the balance beam and finished as she did before, with a perfect dismount.

Cassie turned to me with a worried look on her face. "Hey Jake..."

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I've been thinking..." she paused. "If this girl is going to be the great asset to us that the Ellimist claims she's going to be, then who did the Crayak add to his team?"

I hadn't thought of that.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	2. Marco

****

CHAPTER 2

Marco

I DIDN'T TRUST THE ELLIMIST. I never have. Now we were suddenly suppose to gain an animorph? This all seemed too weird. And Cassie was right to worry about what kind of evil creature the Crayak would be adding to his team. It would only be a matter of time before the Ellimist would come back to transport us to his next battle against the evil team of the Crayak. 

We decided to meet in the lobby after school. If anyone had a new student in one of their classes we were going to investigate. Ax and Tobias morphed to human and met us there.

"Okay, there's this one girl named Amy. I think that it must be her," Cassie said.

"Oh yeah," I inquired. "That one blonde girl. Kinda gawky, tall. She was in my history class." She wasn't exactly a babe. She actually seemed kinda rude. But it was the only new girl at our school today. Plus, her name started with an A.

"Now the only thing we have to do is find her," Jake said. "How are we going to do that?"

"She walks home," Rachel admitted. "I asked her. She's probably still hanging out around the school."

"But what I don't understand," Cassie said, "is how we approach her. Do we just walk up to her and introduce Jake?"

"That'll go over real well," I exclaimed. "'Hey there, Amy. This is Jake. Are you looking for him?'"

Jake shrugged. "It's a start. I'll just casually go up to her and introduce myself, telling her that I couldn't help but notice that she was a new student."

"Ah, the flirtatious approach. Good choice, fearless leader. What are we waiting for?" I held up my hands and started walking backwards out the lobby door and WHAM! Right into someone.

"Oh! Sorry!" she cried. It was a girl...a _cute_ girl. She had long dark curly hair and she was, surprisingly, shorter than me.

I bent down to pick up her fallen books. "No problem," I stuttered. "My fault. I'm really bad at walking backwards." I heard Rachel stifling a laugh in the background. This girl was really, really cute, and I looked like an idiot.

The beautiful girl pushed the hair back from her face. She held out her hand. "Hi. I'm Allie. I'm new to this school."

Ding! Ding! Ding! Hello new animorph! At least I hoped so. I just stood there, acting like a moron, staring aimlessly at this girl, this beautiful, beautiful girl. I couldn't move. I was frozen.

Allie raised an eyebrow in confusion. Rachel and Tobias burst out laughing as Jake quickly stepped forward and shook her hand.

"Hi, I'm Jake. Nice to meet you."

Allie's eyes brightened. "I believe you're the one I'm looking for, Jake." And to tell you the truth, I was jealous at that moment. Jake got to touch her hand. Jake was the one Allie was staring at with a smile on her face. I was definitely jealous.

"Are you busy right now?" Jake asked. "You wanna come with us for a burger or something?"

"No, I'm not busy, that would be great." She smiled. An _amazing_ smile. "Just let me drop this paper off with Mr. Chapman." She walked over to his office and knocked on the door.

Ah, good old Chapman. A major player in Yeerks politics. He's the right-hand-man of Visser Three, one of our most dangerous enemies. But it wasn't Chapman we were against. It was the Yeerk inside his head that we were after.

"Marco, I think you had better wipe the drool of your chin before she comes back, you don't want to look stupid or anything," Rachel smirked.

I was speechless. I had no comeback to her comment.

"Yeah, what happened?" Tobias asked. "Did smooth-talking Marco hit a bump?"

"That's so not like you," Cassie agreed. "Does Marco the Player have a crush?"

I couldn't deny it. "So? So what? I'm not allowed to like a girl?"

"It's just that you've never clamed up like that before," Jake said. "What happened?"

"I don't know...she's just so..."

"Uh, gag me with the details Marco. You and Jake can have a slumber party sometime to talk about her, but now we have to deal with the new kid on the block, okay?"

Surprisingly, I was able to acknowledge her by nodding my head. At least my neck was working, even if my brain was out to lunch.

Allie came out of Chapman's office and smiled. At me.

I almost passed out.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	3. Cassie

****

CHAPTER 3

Cassie

SHE WAS NOTHING LIKE I EXPECTED. I don't know, for some reason I was expecting some big, buff girl ready for action, like Rachel. Well, Rachel is petite and gorgeous, but on the inside she's a lean-mean-fighting-machine. Allie was almost exactly the same thing on the outside, but she didn't have that essence of confidence that Rachel had around her. She was small, very small, unbelievably shorter than Marco, and she was cheerful. I guess I was expecting someone who was about to cross the line from warrior to homicidal maniac. She looked like she was happy she was an animorph. When the Ellimist approached her, she must have thought she was crazy with all the stuff he/she/it was telling her. I know I was. Of course, I didn't get my power from the Ellimist, I got it from Ax's older brother and Andalite soldier, Prince Elfangor. But that's a different story.

We didn't actually go to a burger joint, we headed back towards my house, to our barn. It was stocked with animals in cages, some sleeping, some that growled and moaned to greet us when we walked in.

"Wow," Allie breathed. "What is this place?"

"It's the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic," I replied. "My dad runs it. I'm Cassie, by the way."

She smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"And this is Rachel, Tobias, Marco, and Ax. Ax is an Andalite."

"I've never met an Andalite before."

With that remark, I knew that there was something definitely wrong with this picture. She had never met an Andalite, yet she possessed the incredible ability that until a little while ago, was only a characteristic of this species. The question I really wanted to ask her was why she was doing this. Why did she want to help us win this war? Especially if she was given a choice between not wanting to risk her life everyday and not to be one the most wanted people by the Yeerk Empire.

"So how much do you know about morphing?" Jake asked. "How many times have you done it?"

"You'll have to excuse Jake," Marco said, apparently he had recovered from his episode earlier today, "he's kind of our leader, you know. Our guide. He makes all the decisions around here."

"Well, I don't know much about it...morphing itself. I know about the Yeerks, that's for sure," she blushed a little, as if she had said something she wasn't supposed to. "I mean, the Ellimist told me a lot about the whole war thing."

"What about morphing?"

"I - I only have one morph. A snow leopard. I snuck into the zoo one time. I've only morphed once."

"Once?" Jake raised his eyebrows extremely high. "Only once?"

Allie swallowed and shrugged.

"It not like she had to use it yet or anything," I cut in. "Did you?"

"No, I only did it that once to see if it was real - if I could really do it. To see if I had lost my mind or not."

"I know what you mean," I said comfortingly. "This whole inter-galactic war thing is very shocking at first. But you just kinda come to terms with it later on. You just need experience being an animorph, that's all."

"An animorph?"

"Yeah," Tobias said. "That's us. The Animorphs. An Andalite, a hawk with the mind of a boy, and four - well five, earth kids against an evil army of mind controlling slugs."

There was silence as Tobias's statement echoed in our minds. And in two words, Allie convinced me that she was more like Rachel than I thought.

"I'm in."

Marco smirked at Rachel. "Isn't that your line?" Everyone laughed. But Jake returned to his serious tone.

"It only a matter of time before we'll have to fight them. I think that someone should work with Allie until she gets a little more used to morphing."

"I will," I volunteered.

"Get her a couple other morphs too," Jake added. "Something with wings, something small."

"No problem," I replied. "Do you want to start tonight?"

Allie shrugged. "Sure. I have to run home first. Can we meet at...say seven?"

I nodded.

Ax spoke for the first time, using his human mouth. "There is something that his troubling me. Troub-ling."

"What is it, Ax-man?" Tobias asked.

"If were have added another member to our army against the Crayak, then what did he add to his army?"

Jake and I exchanged worried glances.

"Is there any way we cannot worry about this now?" Rachel asked. "I'm so sick of this stupid game between the two of them. I mean, we're nothing but pawns trying to survive and somehow beat the other team. Did the Ellimist explain everything to you about his game against the Crayak?"

Allie nodded. "And about your battle on another planet, and not to mention the entire dilemma with the Time Matrix."

"Everything about it?" Tobias questioned.

"Yes. I was there. I mean, not really, but it was like a movie playing in my head, only I could feel your pain, your anger, and how much you all care about each other. And I know about Elfangor. I was there at that abandoned construction site also. I've seen all your battles, all the horror, all the glory. I was there - not physically, but I was there."

"And you still chose to join us?" Marco asked. "After everything you saw -"

"How could I not?" she replied. "Any person with the least bit of compassion couldn't possibly know that this was going on and not try to stop it. There was no choice on my part. I had to join you. After all, there are only six of you."

"It will be nice having an extra animorph around," Jake said. "The more warriors the better, I guess."

I hoped he was right.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	4. Rachel

****

CHAPTER 4

Rachel

EVENTUALLY, WE PARTED FROM CASSIE'S HOUSE. I was hoping that Tobias would offer to walk me home. It would be nice to talk with him about everything that was going on. But because he had been in human-morph so long and he needed to demorph, he just figured that it was best to go home. Home to the forest with Ax, that is. 

It's hard when the guy you like is a red-tailed hawk. I used to believe that one day, when the Andalites returned to earth, they would change Tobias back to his human form and we would live happily ever after. I'm beginning to reconsider.

I ended up walking home by myself because Jake stayed with Cassie, and I didn't want to crash their party, and also because Marco and Allie lived in the same direction, which was the opposite of mine.

I wondered about what Ax had said. Who, or what, would the Crayak choose for the new member of his evil army? The last thing we needed was more evil on this planet. And if Allie had never even morphed before, how would she become such an "asset" to our team like the Ellimist said?

I was about to walk up into my driveway when thunder boomed overhead. An evening storm was brewing, I thought.

I was wrong.

The sky grew pitch black as lightening lit my pathway. It took a moment for me to register what was in front of me. It was the image of a person, like a druid or the grim reaper, in a hooded cloak.

Ah Rachel, just the heartless warrior I was looking for.

The Crayak's voice was so loud the ground below me shook. I ignored him.

You can ignore me for as long as you like, but I guarantee you will want to listen to what I have to say.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "What is it? Let's get this over with."

Ah, your impatience fuels your anger like a match to gun powder. Be careful Rachel, or you may explode. He laughed.

I tried to appear unaffected by his words and tapped my foot.

I have a proposition for you.

That was when the first warning bell went off in my mind. I should have walked away, but I kept listening.

The Ellimist, as clever as he may be, has chose Allie for his new soldier. I would not trust her. She may be the key to the end of the animorphs, as you so call your small band.

"What do you mean you wouldn't trust her?" What was he getting at?

She isn't being completely honest with you. Wouldn't you like to know the real story behind your new warrior?

Before I knew it, I caught myself nodding. I knew I was fooling around with the enemy, but there was something about Allie, something that was in the back of mind that worried me. Something that made me very uneasy. I was almost certain there was something she wasn't telling us, and the Crayak was just confirming my conclusions.

But it comes at a price.

Oh no. The last time something came with a price it was the death of an animorph. Jake had died, but with the help of the Time Matrix, we managed to save him. We were lucky.

"What price?" I asked.

The new member for my team. You, Rachel. The cold-blooded killer hiding behind the innocence of a young teenage girl. Looks are deceiving you know."

"I am not a cold-blooded killer," I responded.

No. But you could be.

Chills ran down my spine. There was a part of me that knew he was right.

You see? Can't you feel the evil thriving inside of you? It's a boiling pot and soon it will boil over. That is why I want you. You are about to lose control and I am the only one who can control you.

_No, Rachel,_ I thought. _You can't actually be considering it._ I turned and began to walk away.

Maybe you'll change your mind in the next few days. I'll give you fifty-two hours to decide. The choice is yours, but saying no to this opportunity is a risk not even I would take. He laughed and vanished. The storm cleared, but my mind didn't.

I had one of two choices: A) I give into the Crayak and turn against my friends, or B) I get Allie to be straight with me at some point in the next forty-eight hours.

To tell you the truth, "A" sounded a lot easier.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	5. Allie

****

CHAPTER 5

Allie

I HAD FOUND THEM. I couldn't believe it. You have no idea what it's like coming to a new school and knowing that everywhere you turn someone is an enemy and you have to try to find your only allies. 

The animorphs.

Marco and I live in the same direction, so we walked together. He was cute. But it wasn't just that - he was funny, and he had this...charisma, I guess is the only way I can explain it. But as we were walking, he was nervous.

"So where do you live?" he asked, not-so-casually shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Oakridge apartments," I replied.

"No way!"

"What?"

"I live there too. What apartment?"

"Two B."

"No way! I'm in Two D! We live right across from each other!" he exclaimed. He seemed a little _too_ happy about that. "So, ah, what do you parents do?"

"Oh, I live with my brother. He works for the government." The Yeerk government.

Marco raised his eyebrows. "Doing what?"

"Research..." I stalled. I can't believe I had actually told him the truth. I can't blow my brother's cover. "On cancer treatments."

"Really? That must be pretty cool." He smiled, meeting my eyes. I blushed and turned away.

The truth was, I already knew a lot about him. More than he thought I knew. I knew his dad worked at a software company, I knew that he was usually very suave around girls, but most importantly, I knew that his mother is Visser One, a kind of "president" in the Yeerk empire.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked. "A personal one?"

I nodded.

"What happened to your parents?"

I swallowed hard. It was so difficult to dig back into my mind, to find the right words.

"It's okay, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. Believe me, I know what it feels like. My mom died a few years ago and it's still hard to talk about."

"Except she's not really dead." I said it before I realized the words had even entered my mind. "-I mean, she's in your heart, right?"

Marco gave me a sly look. "That's not what you mean. You know, don't you? What you said, about how you were with us through every battle, through every moment and emotion...you know about my mother's true identity?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I hope you don't mind. I didn't mean to just blurt it out like that."

"It's okay," he replied. "It's nice to be honest with someone for a change."

"Then I should be honest with you." I took a deep breath. "My parents were killed in a car accident a year ago. My brother's taken care of my ever since."

"Wow. I'm sorry, Allie. That must be really terrible."

"You get used to not having them around. I've got a lot more freedom. My brother is hardly ever around. He leaves a wad of cash on the table and I basically take care of myself." I paused. "But it's a lot more lonely too."

We had reached the hallway where our apartments were. I took out a key from under our mat and began to open the door. Marco paused before entering his apartment.

"Do you thing you'll be able to find your way back to Cassie's barn?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I think I'll manage."

"Are you sure?"

"Well," I stalled, "it would be nice to have some company. Do you want to come inside?"

He smiled. "Sure, that would be great."

I opened the front door and put the key back under the mat. "Paul?" I called as I stepped inside. "Paul? Are you home?" The house was empty with no reply. I looked on the kitchen table, a note was scribbled addressed to me.

_"Sorry, Al, I won't be home tonight. Major breakthrough at the lab. I put some cash on the coffee table in the living room for groceries. Get whatever you want. I hope you had a good first day at school. Love, Paul."_ I read it silently.

Yeah, right. Love, Paul. You mean: Love, the evil Yeerk posing as Paul. Controlling his mind. Taking over his body.

Marco read the note. "I'll say you have a lot of freedom. Doing your own grocery shopping?"

"Believe me," I replied, setting my backpack down on a kitchen chair, "it's not as glamorous as you might think. You wanna watch some tube and grab a coke before we leave? We don't have to be at Cassie's for a while."

Marco nodded. "Sounds good to me."

I opened the fridge and grabbed two cans of soda, handed one to Marco, and led him into the living room. I grabbed the remote and plopped down on the couch, flipping through the channels and finally deciding on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch.

Marco opened his soda and took a sip. "A wrestling fan?" He sounded surprised.

"Yup," I answered. "New World Order all the way!"

He laughed. I liked his laugh, it was genuine, not forced. "So what was it like for you the first time you morphed?" he asked. I was surprised he was so open about it.

I shrugged. "I don't know...I guess it's kind of hard to explain."

"I'll never forget the first time I morphed. It was Homer, Jake's dog. A normal, everyday dog. But they're such...happy animals. It's like nothing makes them sad. And then I morphed a gorilla. Talk about power.

"And confidence," I finished. "The snow leopard was the same way. Gentle but violently calm. It was like I was in charge of the world and nothing scared me."

He nodded. "Exactly. But wait until you morph and ant. That's terrible."

"So I've heard," I said. "Remember, I know all about that incident."

"I keep forgetting that. If I were in your situation, I think I would have just walked away, not wanting any part in it."

"Believe me, Marco, you wouldn't have just walked away. You couldn't. No matter how scared you were." I silently sipped my soda, hoping he wouldn't ask me any more questions about what the Ellimist had done.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	6. Ax

****

CHAPTER 6

Ax

CASSIE WANTED ME TO OBSERVE ALLIE'S MORPHING. She said it was because Allie might have questions about morphing that only I had the answers to, but I think that she wanted me there for support. We still did not know much about Allie, but what I feared most was that she appeared to know everything about our past accomplishments. I also had a sense that she was not completely honest with us, that she was hiding something.

I had protested at first, but Cassie promised me a delicious candy bar if I cooperated. Chocolate was not as scrumptious as a delightful cinnamon bun, but it was still very tasty.

We had decided to meet in a clearing in the forest behind Cassie's house. She also had a caged goshawk with her for Allie to acquire. Unfortunately, the atmospheric conditions were not the best and there was a slight drizzle in the air. Tobias decided to accompany me and was complaining about the rain.

It's the worse time to fly, he replied. I think we should just call the whole thing off. It's not a nice night to be outside in spandex.

"Allie's probably already on her way. It's too late to call her. If my dad decides to take my mom out to dinner tonight, then we can probably move into the barn."

Here they come now, Tobias said, flying closer to the ground.

"They?" Cassie questioned.

Marco is with her. Ohh, they're sharing an umbrella, how sweet. Tobias said with sarcasm. Gag me. I'm surprised she didn't tell him to get lost yet. I've never seen him that nervous in front of a girl before. He looked like a complete idiot, Tobias laughed.

Why is Marco nervous about a girl? I asked. Cassie answered in a physical form know as shrugging which involves using shoulders. Humans experience such strange emotions in normal situations. I added.

"Hey guys," Marco greeted once he and Allie approached us.

"Hi Marco. Hi Allie. Ready to get started?" Cassie asked. "You better take off your shoes, by the way. They'll brake when you morph. And why don't you acquire this goshawk."

"Goshawk?" Allie questioned, removing her artificial hooves. Cassie gestured to the cage. Cassie opened it and took out the bird and perched it on her arm. "What - How do I acquire it?"

Just touch it, I said. It will fall into a trance as you acquire, sort of paralyzing it for a few seconds.

"Does it hurt the bird?"

No, it's painless, I replied. For both of you.

Allie nodded and touched the goshawk. She stroked the feathers lightly as the bird calmed into a state of numbness. She took her hand away and Cassie put the bird back in the cage. "Now what?"

"Which animal do you want to morph? The goshawk or the snow leopard?  
"The snow leopard," she replied. "How do I - morph?"

"Just think about the animal. The snow leopard. It's sleek elegance, it's huge paws. The white speckled fur..."

Allie closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Even the rain seemed to come to a standstill as Cassie tried to coax her into morphing. Allie's body was vibrating with concentration, her eye lids flickered as she began to change.

White fur began to sprout from her knuckles. Her feet expanded monstrously as her blue-painted toes turned into claws. There was a crunching sound as her skeleton began to take on a new shape.

Her eyes sprung open and she screamed in horror at the half-human, half-leopard begin she had become.

"It's okay!" Marco cried. "That's suppose to happen."

"Just keep going," Cassie urged. "You're almost done."

Allie nodded and closed her eyes again. Huge white fangs sprouted from her mouth as she sank down to the ground on her hands and knees...well, paws and hind legs. In a matter of moments she was fully snow leopard.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Marco remarked, "was it, Al? Allie?"

No answer.

"Al?"

Silence.

"Allie?"

The leopard turned to Cassie with a stare of hunger in its eyes. I heard Cassie gulp in air. "Allie? You've got to gain control over the snow leopard's mind," she said, her voice shaking. The leopard kept approach in her. "You're human? Remember? Long dark hair. Short height."

"We prefer to be called vertically challenged," Marco snapped.

Now is not the time to argue about that, Marco, Tobias said. Allie, listen to me. You're human. You're a human girl. You're not a snow leopard.

The leopard didn't phase. It continued to approach Cassie, crawling on the ground. She backed away to the tree behind her. "Allie! Snap out of it!!!"

She began to growl, a low, unearthly growl. The muscles on the back of her legs strengthened into hard coils.

"You guys! Help me!"

The leopard lunged at Cassie, knocking her over on her back. The leopard scratched her on the face, a red gash forming on her cheek.

No! Allie stop! Tobias cried. He was attacking the snow leopard with his talons. I ran over to the fight and caught the leopard by the neck with my tail blade. The animal snarled, knowing that if it budged it would become decapitated in a matter of earth milliseconds.

Cassie scrambled to her feet. A hand went to her face as she touched the deep gash, blood covering her finger tips.

The leopard seemed to slouch as tears came to Cassie's eyes. I could hear her sobbing...wait, it wasn't coming from her...someone was crying in thought speech.

Oh my god! What have I done? Cassie I'm so sorry! I quickly took my tail away as Allie came to the realization of who she was - what she was.

She approached Cassie and nuzzled her free hand. I'm so sorry! she apologized. I just couldn't gain control. I had no idea it was really that hard. I'm so sorry!

"It's okay," Cassie took her hand away from the cut. The bleeding had stopped. "I understand Allie, it's just a little scratch. I'll be fine." She smiled and gave Allie a pat on the head. "I understand Allie. It's okay. Don't cry. I'm gonna go get cleaned up."

I'll come with you, Tobias said, morphing to human and taking the caged goshawk. We better take him back before your parents find out.

What have I done?! Allie cried.

"It's okay, Allie," Marco comforted. "Really."

Stop telling me that! It's not okay! I could have killed her! What kind of help am I going to be against the Yeerks if I can't even control my own morphing?!

"Look, why don't you just morph back to human and we can talk about it, okay?"

Morphing takes a lot of practice, Allie, I said. I could tell that Allie was genuinely concerned for our welfare. It takes also takes a lot of patience.

"Ax is right. You'll get the hang of it after a little while. Just morph back now."

Okay, she sniffled, closing her eyes. I just wish I could have morphed that goshawk too. Tobias looks so graceful, riding the wind, racing through the sky. Staring down at everything below him...

As she was talking, she didn't seem to notice the feathers sprouting out of her fur. Marco gasped. Allie began to shrink at an enormous rate. Her catlike snout narrowed to a beak.

"Ax, what's going on? What is she doing?"

I - I - I can't believe it myself, I stuttered. Allie was morphing straight from snow leopard to goshawk without having to morph back into her original form. It was amazing. It was impossible.

What's going on? Allie asked. What are you guys talking about?

"Allie, open your eyes," Marco said.

She did. I'm the goshawk! I did it!

"But it's impossible," Marco said. "You can't just morph from one form to the other without changing back to human. It's impossible."

But she did, I replied. Marco, she can double-morph.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	7. Rachel

****

CHAPTER 7

Rachel

I KNEW EXACTLY WHERE I WAS. The underground hell known as the Yeerk Pool. The place where the slugs come to feed every three days. I wasn't really there, I was just seeing it. Like there was a monitor in the ceiling and I was watching the Yeerks below me.

A man, in about his mid-twenties, bent over the pool and the slug that controlled his mind slithered out. The two Hork-Baijr stood guard and grabbed him, hauling him over to the voluntary host cage where they kept the people who wanted the Yeerk to take over there mind. It was hard to imagine that people like that existed, but it was true.

Next in line was a girl. A very short girl. I could recognize the outline of her figure but couldn't place a name on her.

Suddenly, I was at the other end of the pit, hunched over as the Yeerk slithered out of my own ear, and I angrily stared at the girl across the pool. It was Allie, and she was laughing. Laughing evilly and smiling right at me as she walked over to the voluntary hosts' cage.

I could hear myself screaming. "You did this to me! You did it!" But I was helpless as the two guards grabbed my wrists and hauled me to my cage. Trapped with my free will boiling inside of me and hurt by the girl who I thought I could trust. I could hear the Crayak's voice in my head.

"I told you so, Rachel."

I sat up in my bed, clutching my pillow, as my alarm rang throughout my bedroom. I quickly turned it off and stood up, trying to shake off the horrible dream. My bed was drowning in my own perspiration as I made it up, hopped in the shower, and got ready for school.

What the Crayak said couldn't be right. The Ellimist wouldn't dare harm his team against the Crayak. This game was too important to him. I tried to convince myself, really I did. But it just wasn't working. Allie was too careful about the words she chose to speak with. She was too cautious. She wasn't being totally honest with us and every bone in my body was screaming that there was some truth to what the Crayak said.

In the back of my mind, the thought had been nagging me about what I would say to the Crayak when he asked me for my decision. I could say yes, find out what I needed to know, and then somehow work get out of my deal with the Crayak. If I could outsmart him.

I walked to school alone, lost in my thoughts until I heard Cassie's voice behind me.

"Rachel! Wait up!" she called. I turned around as she ran up to me. "You're never going to believe what happened last night."

"What happened to your face?!" I demanded. A red scratch was across her right cheek.

She felt the scratch. "It's nothing really. Allie had a hard time controlling her morph."

"You were attacked by a snow leopard?!" I cried.

"I'm okay, really. She has control now. And you're not going to believe what she can do. Rachel, this is so amazing. No wonder the Ellimist put her on our side."

"Look, Cassie. I don't trust her. There's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" she asked, concerned. "What's wrong, Rach?"

I took a deep breath. Cassie was my best friend and I could tell her everything. Besides, the Crayak didn't mention that I couldn't tell anyone. "Yesterday, when I was walking home from your place, I ran into the Crayak."

"_What_?" Cassie questioned. "You just _ran_ into him?"

"Well, he approached me. He wants me to be the new member on his team."

"Rachel, you can't actually be considering -"

"Just hear me out, okay?" I held up my hand defensively. "He says that Allie is hiding something from us. Something big. Something that could be the key to the end of the animorphs."

"So? He's lying..."

"I know he's actually telling the truth. I can feel it, Cassie. She's not being completely honest with us."

"But you told him no way, right?"

"He said he'd give me forty-eight hours to decide."

"Rachel, you can't do this. It's insane."

"But we can't risk the entire human race on Allie. She's not being truthful with us. You know it. Last night - well, this morning - I had this dream that she was down in the Yeerk Pool and she was a voluntary host. And then I was down there too and she had betrayed us and we were all Yeerks now."

Cassie sighed. "I can tell that she's hiding something too, Rachel, but having the Crayak tell you what's really going on isn't going to make things any better. Besides, if you say yes, then you're risking the entire human race on trying to outsmart the Crayak. What if you can't get away? What if you can't go back on your word? Whatever Allie is hiding, it's not worth the risk. We need you on our side Rachel. Your too valuable to lose."

"But I can handle the Crayak."

"The Ellimist can't even handle the Crayak! And he's got these omnipotent powers and you're just a girl who can change into animals. It's not worth the risk, Rachel."

"At least help me find out the truth, Cassie. That's the least you can do."

"Why don't we just tell Allie that we know she's hiding something and make her tell us what it is?"

"Because she'll deny the whole thing. She may even lie to us, Cassie. I don't trust her. Let's follow her after school. She's been in town for three days, right? She moved in the day of my gymnastics meet."

"You can't actually be suggesting that she's a Yeerk. We would be dead by now if she was."

"Not necessarily," I answered. "She could be waiting for the right moment."

Cassie sighed. "Fine. I'll do it. But this is ridiculous. I'm telling you, Allie is on our side. She is a very valuable member of our team, just like the Ellimist promised."

"Why? Why is she so valuable, Cassie?"

"Because she can double morph."

"_What_?"

"She can double morph. Yesterday she morphed right from snow leopard to goshawk."

"You saw her do this?"

"No, but Marco did."

"Marco is practically in love with her. He doesn't count."

"But Ax saw it too. And Ax never lies."

"Maybe she's brainwashed them or something."

"Be realistic, Rachel."

"I am being realistic, Cassie, it's you who's totally lost it. Double morphing is impossible. Andalites can't even do it."

"But she got her power from the Ellimist, not from the morphing cube."

"So did Tobias, remember?"

"Yeah, but he had the morphing power before. The Ellimist just gave the ability back to him." I sighed. Cassie was unusually difficult today. "Rachel," she said, "it's not that I don't agree with you that she's hiding something, but spying just isn't the way to find out what we want to know. I'll still come with you, but it's just wrong."

"This thing is just way too complicated for me, okay? Meet me after school in the east parking lot." I took off running towards the school, not looking back.

I just wasn't myself at school. I still wasn't sure about what I was going to tell the Crayak. I zoned through all my classes and skipped lunch period. I was not in the mood to talk or to run in to Allie. I ran into Jake sixth period and he asked me why I was so distant today and I mumbled something about my dad calling. My parents are divorced and my dad lives in another state. He invited me to come live with him before he moved away but I couldn't leave the animorphs behind. I didn't like to lie, but I'm sure that Cassie would tell him the truth soon enough.

She kept her promise and met me in the parking lot after school.

"Did you see her yet?" Cassie asked, shading her eyes from the afternoon sun. We were sitting on the stairs leading down to the parking lot.

"I saw her come out this way. She probably is looking for Marco so they can walk home together or something." I rolled my eyes.

"Jealous, Rachel?" Cassie asked. She was really not her usual considerate self.

"How would you like it if Jake was stuck as a red-tailed hawk?" I retaliated.

Cassie shook her head and put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I don't know what made me say that. I just...I can't explain it. Something very weird is going on here."

"See. What did I tell you? Ever since Allie came..." I let my voice trail off as Marco walked over to us.

"Hey guys, what cha' doing?"

"Oh you, know," Cassie said. "Just hanging out."

"So aren't you going to walk Allie home?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Her brother, Paul, came to pick her up from school. They're going to spend some "quality time" together, as Allie put it. He works at a research center and is never around."

"What about her parents?" Cassie questioned.

"They died in a car accident about a year ago," Marco replied. "She lives with her brother in the apartment across from me. Hey, there she is." He started to wave. I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him down on the stairs before he could attract any attention.

"What the? What are you guys doing?"

"Okay, Marco, so we haven't been totally honest," Cassie said. "We were actually planning on following Allie after school for a little while."

"But why?"

"Because she's hiding something," I replied, letting go of his arm.

To my surprise, he didn't protest. "I've noticed that too. She's very secretive. Every time I ask her a personal question she freaks out and then it takes her five minutes to come up with an answer."

"So then you actually agree that we need to find out what her secret is, right?"

"Well, I don't know if spying on her is the best way to go about it, but I guess it's the only choice I have."

"See Cassie, Marco is even second-guessing her. That definitely gives us a reason to follow her."

Cassie sighed. "I guess you're right. But how are we going to keep up with them when they're in the car?"

"We'll just have to run really fast." I stood up and began to casually jog, following Allie's green jeep. I suddenly realized that Allie's brother was the man in my dream, the one who was in front of Allie in line. The realization just made me more and more determined to find out what she was hiding.

We only had to follow them a few blocks away form the school as they pulled into a McDonald's fast food joint. We walked inside and sat at a table in the corner so that she wouldn't recognize us.

"There's no way she's a Yeerk," Marco said. "No way."

This McDonald's happened to be the doorway to the Yeerk Pool. You walked up to the counter, asked for a Happy Meal with "extra happy," and went into the back room that led down to the pool.

"I don't believe it," Marco said. "There's no way."

"Just shut up and watch," I snapped as Allie and her brother walked inside.

The two of them went to the counter. Paul was the first to order. He spoke in a soft but firm voice. "We'd like two Happy Meals with extra happy."

I thought Marco was going to pass out as a look of horror crossed his face. "There's got to be a mistake," he mumbled. "I won't believe it until I see it. She must be going down there to fight the Yeerks by herself or something. She's on our side, I know it. We've got to get down there." He stood up.

Cassie grabbed him by the wrist. "We can't go down there!" she cried. "Are you crazy? We'll be killed. And if we make it out of there alive, Jake will kill us himself!"

"I agree with Marco," I said. "We need to find out what's going on here. I have to see if she's a voluntary host."

"She's not a host at all!" Marco hissed. "She can't be!"

"I can't let you guys do this. It's too dangerous."

"We need to find out what she's hiding from us," I declared. "You said it yourself Cassie, we can't risk the human race on her. Now is our chance to find out." I stood up and walked over to the counter. My voice nearly cracked as I said to the worker: "I'd like a Happy Meal with extra happy."

Marco and Cassie did the same. We went into the back room together and went through the whole cleansing process where they search for other organisms besides humans, just in case an Andalite bandit might try to break into the pool. The door to the pool opened and the screams of the innocent echoed throughout the stairwell.

I shuttered as my dream the night before came back to me. The three of us trudged down the stairs, resisting the urge to run screaming for our lives. Once we were in sight of the pool, we stopped on the stairwell, looking over the edge below.

"They're in one of the lines," Marco whispered, his voice shaking. "That's Paul, he's next. Allie's right behind him."

"My dream is coming true," I cried, horrified. "This is exactly how it happened."

"Maybe we should get out of here," Cassie said.

"No. I have to see if she's a voluntary host."

"What dream? What are you talking about?"

"You don't want to know," I replied.

Paul bent over as the slug crawled out of his ear and plopped into the slug-filled pool. He stood up, unaffected, and the Hork-Baijr led him to the same cage as in my dream.

"He's a Yeerk," I said. "Her brother is a Yeerk."

"So is Tom," Marco cried. Tom is Jake's brother. "That doesn't mean anything."

Allie was next. She stepped up to the platform, her head leaning over the edge of the pool.

"Come on Allie," Marco whispered. "You can't be a Yeerk. There's no way."

His face grew pale as the green-colored slug crawled out of her ear. She was limp and fell backward, the Hork-Baijr catching her and hauling her into the voluntary host cage.

"No!" Marco cried. "No!"

"I knew it!" I declared.

Cassie shook her head. "We've got to get him out of here, Rachel, people are going to realize that his screaming isn't coming from one of those cages."

I nodded and took Marco gently by the arm. It must be hard for him. First his mother died and now the girl he likes is controlled by a Yeerk.

He seemed to snap out of his screaming stage and into a surreal trance. He was extremely quiet. Too quiet for Marco. We walked out of the McDonald's and back to Cassie's barn in silence. There was only one thing left to do.

Call Jake.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	8. Tobias

****

CHAPTER 8

Tobias

I HAD BEEN FOLLOWING RACHEL SINCE THE THREE OF THEM HAD LEFT McDONALDS. She had this triumphant look on her face. Cassie was definitely troubled by something, and Marco looked like a zombie from Night of the Living Dead. 

I was hungry but my curiosity got the better of me. What had they been doing at the Yeerk Pool entrance? I wondered. But I figured that I would find out soon enough. They went to Cassie's barn and after I caught a nice sized rodent for dinner, I saw Jake on his way to Cassie's house too. So I tracked down Ax-man and headed to the barn.

The barn was filled with an eerie quietness. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong, especially with Marco. He hadn't even spoken a word yet and usually we couldn't get him to shut up.

"You guys made it. I'm glad we didn't have to go out looking for you," Jake said.

What's going on? What's wrong?

"We've had a little meeting to discuss something," Rachel replied.

Well then where's Allie?

"Allie is what we're here to discuss," Jake answered. "Let me bring you guys up to speed. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but Allie has been hiding a secret from us. A big secret. Rachel had a dream about Allie and her brother last night and she took Cassie and Marco with her to investigate after school. They followed the two of them to McDonald's where they went down into the Yeerk Pool, without permission..." he shot a look at Cassie, who blushed and looked down to the floor, ashamed. "It turns out that Allie and her brother are both voluntary Yeerk hosts."

What? I asked. You can't be serious. Why would the Ellimist put a Yeerk on our team? It's a death wish.

"Who knows?" Rachel shrugged. "Now we have to figure out what to do with her."

"Well, I know what I want to do with her," Marco spoke up form the pile of hay he was sitting on. "I want to confront her host and kill it. I want to keep her away from the Yeerk Pool for three days and watch it die."

"Marco, you've got to think rationally," Jake said. "I know you've got these feelings for Allie, but -"

"We did the same thing for you, Jake," he interrupted. "We could have Ax morph into her for a few days."

"But her brother would notice," Cassie said. "After all, they go there together. If she just stopped going, he would know something was up. I'm sorry Marco, but it just seems impossible."

"But so is double morphing," Marco replied. "And she can do that."

"Maybe it's a mutation or something," Rachel suggested.

"Rachel, you've had something against Allie since the first day we saw her. You aren't even willing to try. What if this is what the Ellimist wanted us to do? What if we're suppose to get rid of the Yeerk inside her mind and _then_ she'll become an asset to us."

I don't know Marco. He said that all we have to do is accept her. He didn't say anything about the Yeerk in her head. I said.

"Maybe he didn't know," Rachel declared.

That's impossible, Ax replied. The Ellimist knows everything.

"I think we should stop using the word impossible from now on," Cassie said. "Nothing is impossible. Maybe we can save Allie."

Marco stood up. "I want to see her. I want to confront her."

"Not now," Jake said. "First we have to try and figure out how much she's told the Yeerk Empire about us and figure out how much time we have before they catch us."

"What if she's part of the Yeerk resistance force?" Cassie asked. "Maybe she's a Yeerk rebel."

"Either way, we're in danger," Rachel said. "And she's still got control over Allie's mind and body."

"But we don't know that," Marco replied. "Maybe it just sits back and lets her live her life. Maybe that's why she's a voluntary host."

"Yeah, or maybe she's planning something against us right now," Rachel shouted. "I don't about you guys, but I'm definitely not feeling safe anymore. I don't want to go home, I don't want to put my family in danger."

Rachel is right, Ax said. I believe we should strike first before she does.

"You're all crazy!" Marco cried. "She's is not against us! I know it!"

"Marco, you're blind! Would you listen to yourself?! You're the crazy one!" Rachel said. "You can't depend on your feelings or your intuition. It's suicide."

"What about instinct?" Marco asked. "Isn't that what you thrive on Rachel, the heartless warrior that you are?"

I could see something inside Rachel snap. What Marco said about her seemed to make her second guess herself. An odd thing, a habit that Rachel never had.

No offense, I told Marco, but every instinct inside me says that we need to get to Allie's apartment right now and see what's going on. Whether we battle with her or not, we need to find out what she's up to.

"Tobias is right," Jake said. "We can decide what we'll do with Allie after we know all the facts. I still believe that the Ellimist brought her to us for a reason. We just need to figure out why before she tells the Yeerks what we are."

"She wouldn't do that," Marco cried.

"We'll argue about it later," Jake replied. "Let's get a move on." He walked out of Cassie's barn, everyone else not far behind. Ax morphed into a harrier and flew behind us, making sure we weren't being followed.

The sun was setting outside. I felt like going back to my favorite tree and perching in a branch for the night, but I had other duties to attend to. The owls would be on the prowl when I got back, so I'd have to be careful about where I flew. By the time we reached Marco's apartment building it was almost completely dark.

"Tobias, fly up to her window and see what's going on," Jake called up to me. "We're going to head up to the second floor. Fill us in on what's happening."

Okay, Jake. I flew towards the second story, peeking in the windows on the opposite side of Marco's apartment. I passed a few windows and came to the first one with the lights on inside. As I flew closer, I realized it was Allie. It was her bedroom.

She was lying her bed, her face pale and flushed. Her blankets were pulled up to her neck and her brother was sitting by her side in a chair. She had a damp wash cloth on her forehead and she was breathing heavily.

Hey, you guys. I think we've been worrying over nothing. I couldn't hear a reply, but I knew they heard me. Something's wrong with her. It doesn't look like she's planning anything against us. She can barely breathe.

With my sensitive hawk hearing I could hear someone running down the stairs inside the building, the door slamming. Marco came running around the corner. "I've got to see her," he said. The others ran out of the building and watched as he took off his shoes and started morphing into a harrier.

He joined me by the window, out of sight from the window. I heard in thought speech what can only be described as a gasp of incredible shock and terror as he whispered words that swept inside the heart of everyone listening.

By and © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	9. Marco

****

CHAPTER 9

Marco

I CAN BARELY REMEMBER THE REST OF THE NIGHT. Jake decided that we wouldn't attack her, or question her. After all, she could have a rebel Yeerk inside her or she was dying. But she hadn't turned us in yet, so he decided just to wait and see what would happen. Rachel nearly beat him up for his approach, claiming that we would be too late and the Yeerks would get to us first.

Sometimes I wonder about Rachel. I wonder which side she's on. Not between the Yeerks and anti-Yeerks, but between good and evil.

As I walked to my apartment, I thought about just barging in the door and running to Allie's side as she was helplessly dying. She looked so incredibly sick, so fragile and fatal.

But I'm not stupid. There's a word for that. Suicide.

I know that Allie is not a Yeerk. I know it. I'm not so sure about her brother, but something inside me tells me that she's not my enemy. I've never been more sure about anything else I've ever known. If only I could make the others feel what I feel, make them see what I see. I don't care that I saw the slug crawl out of her ear, she's not a mindless alien trying to take over the world. No one can convince me otherwise.

I stumbled into bed, refusing a late dinner of leftovers with my father. I was exhausted, but I was restless. All I could do was picture Allie lying in her bed, alone and dying. Part of me was sure she was dying. Or else something inside her was.

Another part of me was asking what happened to my old personality. The suave, stylish, arrogant Marco that cracked bad jokes left and right and argued with his best buddy Jake over who the best superhero was. But when I saw Allie, I couldn't get my mind off her. I care about her so much and I've given up on everything else.

What happened to the old Marco?

Maybe he'll be back. Someday.

I woke up that morning, my joints stiff and eyes with dark circles underneath. I jumped in the shower and got ready for school, curiosity reaching its peak after breakfast about whether or not Allie would be in school today. I was suppose to act like I didn't know she went to the Yeerk Pool last night, right? So what would it hurt if I called her asked if she wanted to walk to school together? Before I could convince myself otherwise I picked up the phone and dialed her number.

"Hello?" a small voice answered.

"Hi," I replied, relieved to hear she had made it through the night. "Do you want to walk to school today?"

"Sure," she said. "I'll meet you in the hall in about five minutes, okay?"

"Okay. See you."

"Bye."

I heard a click from the other end. She sounded perfectly normal. Not sick or defenseless. Not like an evil Yeerk. I grabbed my backpack from my room and said goodbye to my dad before I headed out the door.

Allie was already outside waiting. She greeted me with a sensational smile that made me want to run over to her and...well, make me run over to her and kiss her. The old Marco would never feel that way.

"Allie," I breathed. "I haven't seen you in ages."

She raised an eyebrow and approached me. I could smell her perfume as she inched closer. "Marco, I saw you at lunch yesterday. It's been less than twenty-four hours."

It was almost a complete transformation since last night. But it wasn't flawless. Her eyes were glassy, her face pale and tired.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, lifting a hand to her cheek. Her skin was smooth and warm to the touch. "You look sick. You feel kinda warm."

She turned away. "No, I'm fine."

I took advantage of the opportunity. I could tell she wanted to be honest with me. She wanted desperately to tell me something but she couldn't find the words to do it.

"Is there something going on, Allie?" I coaxed. "Is there something I should know?"

Her eyes pleaded with mine. She want to tell me so desperately, and yet she couldn't. Her stare was so concentrated I began to think that maybe there was a Yeerk inside her head, willing her to keep her mouth shut.

"No." She began to walk down the stairs and out the door. I ran to catch up with her.

"So what do you do for fun?" I asked. The morning air was fresh and crisp outside and seemed to brighten her entire face. "When you're not watching wrestling and trying to save the world, of course."

She laughed. "Well, I like to watch TV, surf the web, cook. And I know this may sound kinda stupid, but I like to work jigsaw puzzles."

"You're kidding?" I replied.

"Hey, don't laugh. It involves a lot of concentration."

"And frustration," I muttered. "So what do you like to bake? Cookies?"

"I don't bake, I _cook_. There's a difference, you know. Baking is for wimps, like brownies and stuff. I _cook_ some Tai food and I can make a mean chili."

"Oh really? Maybe I'll have to try it some time."

She smiled. "I'd like that."

Before I knew it we were at the school. I wouldn't see her until third period. I didn't want to let her out of my sight. I was so close to losing her before and now we had to be in separate rooms...

"Marco."

His voice was stern. Firm. Angry. Unchallenged. It was Chapman.

"Can I talk to you for a moment in my office." It wasn't a question. It was a demand, a statement. An order.

"See you later," Allie whispered, walking away. A line formed across her forehead as she bit her lower lip. She knew who Chapman was. She knew his history. She knew I could be in deep trouble.

I sighed and walked into his office, fighting the urge to tell him that I knew what he really was. I knew all about his stupid invasion and that I was a member of the so-called "band of Andalites" that were trying to stop the earth invasion.

Again, suicide.

I sat in the chair across from his desk, twiddling my thumbs. I knew he would be patrolling the hallways until after the tardy bell, which meant _I_ was going to be tardy. I couldn't help but peek around his office a bit.

On his desk was a picture of Melissa, one of Rachel's friends, holding her cat Mr. McKitty. Little did she know, most of us had actually _been_ that cat when we were spying on her father. There was a desk lamp, a metal plate with his name and title on it, and a stained coffee cup. Disgusting.

But there was a letter that caught my eye. It typed on a plain piece of white paper. No heading, no closing name. An anonymous letter. I began to read it.

_You are encouraged to attend the inauguration of Visser Three's promotion_

to Visser Two on Friday night at location 71p at 21:00 hours.

Oh no...ever since my mother had been demoted from Visser One, Visser Three, the most evil of the Yeerks with the host of an Andalite body, had been trying to take her place. Being promoted to Visser Two was the first step to becoming the new leader of the Yeerk race.

I had to see Jake. He was in my first hour class but I was stuck in Chapman's office. The tardy bell rang and Mr. Chapman came inside, shutting the door behind him. I couldn't help but be a little nervous. I didn't know why I was here. There was always the chance that he could have found out something. A chance that he knew what we were up to.

"Mr. O'Bannon tells me you are only two points away from failing biology, Marco," he said.

I exhaled the air I had been holding. "I'm sorry, sir -"

"I'm going to warn you. I've already called your father about this. He told me that if you do lose those two points that I should have one of the student tutor you after school at least once a week. I don't know if he's talked this over with you or not, but I will be forced to comply with his wishes. This is your warning." He waved his hand in dismissal.

A tutor? That was it? I was expecting some big blowout and all he lectured me about was my biology grade?

A huge smile spread across my face as I walked out of his office and asked one of the secretaries for a pass to class. Jake gave me an odd look as I plopped down next to him in first hour. I leaned over and whispered as quietly I could in his ear.

"You're not going to believe what I found out."

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	10. Jake

****

CHAPTER 10

Jake

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I THINK THAT SOMETHING IS LOOKING OUT FOR US. Marco stumbled onto the invitation on Chapman's desk by pure luck.

We met in Cassie's barn after school, along with Allie. She had no idea we knew she was a Yeerk or that we knew how sick she was last night. Everyone was on edge, not believing a word she said. Marco told me that he almost got her to tell the truth to him this morning, but it was as if something - or someone - was holding her back. He had come to the conclusion that she had a rebel Yeerk in her head. I was beginning to agree. If she had been working with the Yeerk Empire we would be dead or infested by now.

I invited Erek to our meeting because we had to figure out where 71p was located. We had no idea where the site was.

"What did you say the location was called again?" he asked. He made his hologram raise an eyebrow, a questioning expression on his face. It was hard to imagine a lean, mean, invincible killing machine under there.

"71p," Marco replied.

"The Yeerks don't really have some big secret code, as far as we can tell," Erek said. "I'm guessing the location would be the Gap store in the mall."

"You mean the other entrance to the Yeerk Pool?" Rachel questioned. "How do you figure that?"

"I believe I know how," Ax said. He was in his human form, eating a candy bar that Cassie had promised him. "It's very simple, really. Think of your human alphabet. The seventh letter is the letter G, the first letter is A. G - A - P. Gap." He continued to repeat the word.

"That's it?" Marco asked. "Wow. So much for super-secretive locations."

"Some of our people will be there, also," Erek declared.

"And when were you planning on telling us about this meeting?" I asked. Usually the androids never left us in the dark. We were allies.

"We weren't planning on informing you about the meeting because we didn't want there to be a battle. We just wanted to find out as much information as possible."

"So you only call us in when you want physical strength?" Cassie asked.

Erek shrugged. "I guess so. We were going to tell you all the information we learned, of course. It will prove to be a very important night. It will be the first time a member of the Council of Thirteen will be on earth."

Council of thirteen? Tobias asked. Aren't they the guys who are more important than the vissers? Like, the Yeerk congress or something?

Erek nodded. "Visser Three will no doubt want to be promoted to Visser One. The council will have to investigate all of his progress with the invasion of earth. Visser One is a very important position and after what happened with the last Visser One the council will be on guard."

"But doesn't Visser Two move up to Visser One?" I asked.

"He would if you hadn't killed him in a battle."

"So he won't be Visser One yet?" Rachel questioned. "Not until after they investigate?"

"Right."

"That buys us some time," I said. "Erek, what would happen if we were to crash their little party tonight?"

"I don't think I would recommend it. Because the council member will be there the place will be heavily guarded. It will be hard for our people to even get inside. But I do think you should attend first hand. Just don't start a battle with them."

"So we're just suppose to go there and listen to what they say? Without even letting them know we're there?" Rachel asked.

"What Erek is suggesting makes sense," Cassie said. "They'll think we're in the dark."

But shouldn't we strike against them now? Tobias asked. Like Erek said, this is the first time the council member has been on earth. We might not get a second chance.

"I wouldn't advise it. The most powerful of all the Yeerk empire is going to be inside that building. You may not all get out alive." Erek checked his watch, a human custom he had clearly picked up in the last century or so. "I have to go. I hope I will see all of you tonight."

"Bye, Erek," Cassie said, watching him leave.

The barn grew quiet, everyone turned to stare at me. That's one of the reasons why I hate be the leader of the group. I had to make decisions that meddled with people's lives.

"Well?" Marco asked. "What should we do, fearless leader?"

"I think we should attack," Rachel said. "We're never going to get an opportunity like this again, Jake. It's a one time thing."

Rachel's right, Tobias agreed.

"But what about Erek's warning?" Cassie asked. "He specifically told us not to attack because it would be too dangerous. In fact, he wasn't even going to tell us about this meeting because he was afraid we would get ourselves killed."

"Maybe he was just underestimating us," Ax said. "Es-tim-mating."

"I don't know," Marco shook his head. "He's knows what we're capable of. Maybe we should just sit this one out."

There was only one thing to do. It was a toss up. Rachel, Tobias, and Ax had already made up their minds. They wanted to attack. Cassie and Marco weren't so sure, and neither was I. Then there was Allie.

She was sitting next to Marco on a haystack, watching us intently. I wondered if she realized before how every decision she made was going to effect her life. Whether she realized that whatever decision she made would mean death or life.

"Allie," I asked, "what do you think?"

Rachel snapped her head towards me. "You're asking _her?_"

If looks could kill, Marco would have murdered Rachel at that moment.

"I mean..." Rachel stammered. "She's new...maybe she does understand."

"I understand," Allie said quietly. The decision clearly affected her. She knew that whatever her vote was we would have to abide by it.

It looked as though the question tore her up inside, almost as though she wanted to say something but couldn't, like another part of her was making her say something else. Like there was a Yeerk controlling her and the real Allie was fighting his decision.

I realized I knew exactly what her decision would be.

She closed her eyes and swallowed. "I think we should attack."

I took a long hard stare at her, searching for a clue as to whether or not she was a traitor. There was none. She was a Yeerk.

"It's decided then," I said. "Meet at the dumpster behind the mall at eight-thirty."

The others stood up to leave. Tobias and Ax stayed behind with Cassie and me. I waited utnil Allie was out of earshot before I spoke.

"It's a trap."

Ax nodded. "Yes, I agree with Prince Jake."

"What are we going to do?" Cassie asked.

I shrugged.

I have an idea, Tobias spoke from his perch in the rafters. It's pretty harsh though.

"But it's the only plan of attack we have," I said. "What is it?"

Well, when we're about to morph and attack, we would morph into flies or something and bail. She'll morph into some big animal and be stuck out in the open and alone - or maybe she won't even morph at all. Maybe she wasn't going to go into battle with us. We'd miss our chance to take down the head cheese but at least we'd survive.

"I don't know," Cassie shook her head. "That's almost as bad as killing her ourselves. How do we know she's really against us?"

You saw her at the Yeerk pool, Cassie. You saw the slug crawl out of her ear? Tobias questioned.

"Well...yeah, but -"

What more proof do we need? The more time we waste, the more we put ourselves in danger.

"But Marco thinks that there's a rebel Yeerk inside of her head," I declared. "I kinda think the same thing. I guess. Maybe she's part of the resistance."

We can't take that chance, Tobias answered. When the Crayak contacted Rachel, he said that she may be "the key to the end of the Animorphs." Maybe he's right. We can't let that happen.

"But we don't know for sure!" Cassie threw up her hands. "If only she would be honest with us. If only we could trust her."

"I would agree with Tobias," Ax said. "But why would the Ellimist bring her here? He said she would prove to be a very important asset to our team. I wish I knew what he meant by this."

Screw the Ellimist, Tobias snapped. We've got to deal with her. This is crazy.

"But we don't know that she's a Yeerk. We don't know for sure that this is the chance. What if we're wrong?" Cassie asked.

Then we're wrong. But who's it going to be Cassie? If we're gone, there's no one else out there to fight the Yeerks. It's either the entire human race or this one girl.

"I hate to say it," I said, "but Tobias is right. We can't choose her over an entire race, Cassie. You know it."

Cassie sighed. "But I'm still against it. Marco's never gonna go for this. He'll probably tell her about it."

"You talk to Rachel, Cassie," I declared. "I'll take care of Marco."

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	11. Cassie

****

CHAPTER 11

Cassie

WE KNEW THAT IF WE WERE GOING TO MAKE IT INSIDE THE GAP we would have to go as humans. The Yeerks would be expecting us to be in some other animal form and they would kill any animals that tried to make their way in.

The mall was closed and the Gap was dark, but people were still being let in. They had what looked like metal detectors at the back entrance from the parking lot. I assumed it was to make sure that no one had any hidden dracon beams. We had to split up because the entrances to the Yeerk pool were in two separate dressing rooms - one for guys, one for girls.

Rachel, Allie, and I went into the dressing room and went to the last stall. The entrance hidden behind the mirror was already open. We crawled inside and made our way down to the Yeerk pool.

Allie didn't even pretend to be surprised by the Yeerk pool. You would think that a newcomer would be blown away by this discovery, like I was when we first started this whole saving the world business. But she had no response. Not a gasp or a raised eyebrow or anything. It made me feel a little better about what we were going to do.

The plan was that we would meet in the underground bathrooms - yes, they had bathrooms down there for some reason. Then we would morph, Jake would give the command to attack, Allie would go out running, and she would be dead.

Dead. I still didn't know if I could pull this off. This was as filthy as murder.

The bathrooms were on the opposite end of the Yeerk pool, so we had a long way to walk. There was a huge stage that covered the center of the pool and chairs set up all around it. Like a press conference without the microphones.

About a dozen Hork-Baijr and Taxxons walked towards the stage, protecting someone in the middle. The member of the Council of Thirteen. I wanted to get a good look at him but I knew it would be suspicious if he saw me, though it was next to impossible he was so heavily guarded. By the time we reached the bathroom he had already begun his speech. We walked inside, the guys were already there.

"Let's get this over with," Jake said. "But I think we should go into separate stalls, this could get ugly."

"Good idea," I replied.

"Anyway, the plan is that we going to run out of here attack on my cue. We aim for everyone that's on that platform." He headed into one of the stalls.

"Jake," Allie said, stopping him. "I hate to be a scaredy cat, but -" she paused. "Can I change my vote? I don't like this. This isn't right. It's too risky."

Then again, there were those times when I thought she was a Yeerk.

"You haven't even fought in a battle yet and you're already wimping out?" Rachel exploded. Allie jumped at the sound of her booming voice. "We're down here with some of our most deadly enemies and we have a chance to take them out and you want to stop?"

Allie swallowed. She didn't say anything.

"I don't know Jake, I've got a bad a feeling about this too," Marco said.

I turned to Jake and gave him the evil eye. He didn't tell Marco about our plan yet, otherwise Marco would have flipped out by now. He would have done anything to stop Allie from dying. I know it, I saw it in his eyes.

Jake sighed. "This is our only chance, you guys. It's now or never." He turned off the bathroom light and headed into a stall. I went into the one right next to him and began to morph into fly so that we could high tail it outta there when chaos broke out.

Why didn't you tell Marco? I demanded.

I will, he replied. Just wait.

Jake, I don't know if I can through with this.

You have to Cassie. If you want the human race to survive, you're going to have to suck it up and let her die.

You mean kill her, Jake, I said. We're _killing_ her.

He didn't answer me.

We could hear Visser Three - well, Visser Two's speech outside. And now that I am promoted to Visser Two, I would like to announce myself as a candidate for Visser One. I know this will take some investigation by the council.

Everyone ready? Jake asked. After everyone replied, he continued. On my cue, we break down the door, and we attack. Ready? Now!

There was a mad scramble of toes as I heard the sound of a gorilla. Marco! How was Jake going to stop him.

I heard the gorilla stop. Jake was explaining it to him now?! Now?!

No! Allie! Stop! The gorilla let out a howl as the wooden door of the bathroom splintered.

I buzzed outside of the stall to see what was going on. Marco was outraged.

All of you have been planning and plotting this behind my back? You're killing Allie, you know that? You're killing her right now and turning her over to the Yeerks. I can't believe this. I don't care if she's evil or not, I'm going out there will her. They're going to have to kill me before they can get to her!

The gorilla ran out the bathroom door.

Great plan, Jake. Now we're down two animorphs, Rachel snapped.

Our numbers will decrease even more if we stay here, Prince Jake, Ax said. I'm afraid that the only thing to do is leave Marco and Allie and to get ourselves out of here.

I can't do this, Jake said. Marco is my best friend. I should have trusted him. I should have trusted his judgement.

But Marco doesn't think with his brain, I said. Marco thinks with his heart.

"That's why I should have trusted him." Jake had morphed by to human. He ran outside the door. 

This is awful! I cried. What are we going to do?

High tail it out of here! Tobias shouted. Head for the door.

I must follow my prince, Ax said. I could hear the hooves against the hard marble floor of the bathroom as he scrambled out the door.

This was wrong, this was so wrong! What were we thinking?! Now Jake and Marco would be dead, all to save the human race? This was ridiculous. I miss my old life where all I had to save was some poor defenseless bird who broke its wing and now it's my own race! Now my friends were dead?

The Crayak was right, I said. Allie was the key to the end of the animorphs.

I morphed out of my fly form. I couldn't just let Jake die without a fight. I guess I understood why Marco had endangered us all and ran out after Allie.

As I approached the door I could hear the council member speaking. Amazingly, they hadn't noticed our small group of resistance yet. Allie was still running for the stage. Marco was after her, stuck in-between a morph of human and gorilla, not able to thought speak or human speak. Jake was running after him, shouting, though it could barely be heard because of the council member's voice.

If there is anyone else who would like to announce themselves to also run for Visser One, please speak now.

No one would dare speak against me, Visser Two shouted. He was in his Andalite form now, a sense of intimidation overwhelming me.

Suddenly the ground shook. Flashes of light everywhere. Dracon beams!

Allie stopped in her tracks. A man who was guarded by other creatures, ones I've only seen once before. When we were battling with the Crayak we saw creatures similar to them on another planet. They were human like and could change color, like a chameleon.

The whole room seemed to gasp as the man step forward and I realized I recognized him from somewhere. I just couldn't put my finger on it...

"I challenge Visser Two!" the man called.

And who are you? Visser Two sneered.

"I am Voxfra056, traveler of worlds."

No you're not, Visser Two said. Voxfra is dead. His ship when down when we were battling the Adalite dome ship.

"Yes, unfortunately, my ship did," the man replied, walking up onto the platform stage. "But I survived. _We_ survived," he gestured to his guards. "And we're here to reclaim what was once ours."

I caught up to Jake and Marco and Ax. Marco now full human and Ax was in his Andalite form. But Allie ahead of them, still in her snow leopard form. I could hear people running behind me. I turned. It was Rachel and Tobias.

"Who is Voxfra, Ax?" Jake asked.

He is supposed to be dead, Ax sneered. My brother's ship took him down before I crashed into the sea. He is an ancient Yeerk. One of the first to introduce host bodies to the Yeerk homeworld. It is because of him the Yeerks now take control over others lives. Ax clenched his fists in anger, something he must have picked up from one of us.

"And what about those...creatures next to him?" Rachel asked.

They are machines, Ax answered, morphing to his human form. "His own death army. He programmed them himself. But he had a different host body back then. It was the king of Zolecvaminor. He used to be the head leader of the council of thirteen until he died - well, disappeared. One must be a Visser again before a council member so he has to start at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak."

"Let's get out of here," I said. "We're all together and no one has seemed to notice Allie. We need to leave."

"Ax?" Jake asked. "Get her attention, she can't hear us shouting."

He seemed to concentrate for a moment, then Allie turned around and looked towards us. You guys get out of here now, she said. 

"What's she talking about?" Marco asked.

GET OUT! RUN! There's something I have to do. I'll meet you back at the dumpster.

"Oh no, what's she going to do?" I said.

"Probably have a little conference with her Yeerk friends. Great, now we're dead!" Rachel shouted.

"I think we should do what she says," Jake declared. "Let's just get out while we can."

Please go, Allie begged. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I'll tell you everything at the dumpster. I promise. _Everything_.

"But..." Marco stammered.

GO! NOW! She made a bounding leap onto the stage. The underground cave erupted into pandemonium. Jake took off up the nearest staircase, dragging Marco with him. Ax, Rachel, and Tobias followed. I turned and looked at Allie, trying to figure out what she was doing. I saw her attack Voxfra, a pool of blood seeping out from under him.

Then I recognized him.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	12. Rachel

****

CHAPTER 12

Rachel

WE WERE GOING TO DIE. I knew it. I was absolutely positively sure. "We need to bail," I said. "We need to pack our bags and get out of here."

"You're overreacting, Rachel," Jake replied.

"Overreacting? You guys are under-reacting! Don't you understand what's going on? She's turning us in!"

"Are you blind?" Marco cried. "Don't you see what Allie is doing?"

"Yes, she's turning us in."

"No she's not." An unexpected voice. Cassie. "Didn't you recognize Voxfra. It's her brother."

"Exactly. Who do you think she's reporting us to?"

She's not reporting us to anyone, Tobias said. He was perched on top the dumpster. She just tried to kill her brother.

"A lot more than I could do," Jake remarked. "I came close to almost killing Tom but I still don't know if I could have done it."

Were my ears betraying me? Were my friends insane? Even Tobias thought Allie was innocent. She's not, I know. I can just sense it. We can't trust her.

"Let's just hope she gets out alive," Marco said sadly. "That place was heavily guarded. There's no way-"

"Have you all lost your minds?!" I cried.

"Rachel, what is it that you don't understand?" Marco asked. "Can't you see what she's done? She's sacrificing her own brother for us. Somehow, she knows how deadly he is and she's trying to stop him. She's killing her own flesh and blood."

"But she's got a Yeerk inside her head, Marco. There's something weird going on and I know she's the cause of it. Every instinct in my body is telling me to get my butt outta here because I can't trust her. None of us can -"

Time stopped. All of my friends were frozen. Marco's face was red and troubled. Jake was watching me, wondering what I had against our new "animorph." Cassie was looking at me with those eyes of hers, full of pity.

The time has come for a decision, Rachel.

The Crayak. Of course. Forty-eight hours.

I know it's tearing you apart, but I only see one answer. Since the time that I've left you, your friends have turned against you. Your killer instincts are strong - overpowering. I can help ease the pain that you feel. Become a soldier in my army and you will be happier than you can imagine. I can make your wildest fantasies come to life, Rachel.

"And your worst nightmares!"

A familiar voice. I whirled around. Allie was running over to us. Why wasn't she frozen like the rest of the betrayers?

"Rachel, you can't listen to him. You can't." She put her hand on my shoulder but I quickly took it away.

"And why not?"

"Just trust me, Rachel. You've got to trust me."

"Trust you? Trust you?! How can I trust you when you've done nothing but lie to us. You've turned everyone else against me."

"Rachel, he's playing with your mind. What you're feeling isn't real. The instincts, the paranoia. When he leaves you'll be back to normal. Then I'll explain everything. I'll tell the truth and answer all your questions. You've just got to trust me."

"I wish I could Allie. I really wish I could. But you're a Yeerk, and no one can trust a Yeerk."

"I'm not a Yeerk, Rachel," she shook her head. "Search your heart, not your mind, not the gnawing at your soul. You know I'm telling you the truth. If you just say no to him all the agony will go away. If you join his army it will always be the back of your mind, eating you - the brave Rachel - up. You're not evil like him, Rachel."

I looked at this girl who had only been in my life for three days, this girl who had turned my reality upside down, this girl who asked me to trust her. She was right. I could feel in my heart - I know it sounds corny - but I _knew_ she was right. I though of my little sisters. They would never want me to join the Crayak. And Tobias, the one person who I cared about most, would never give me another look if I joined the evil side. He believes in me, and his faith is something that helps me fall asleep at night after I've been in so many battles.

_I'm not evil._

I turned to the bright light of the Crayak. "I decline your offer."

In an instant the bright light disappeared. Marco stopped in mid-sentence and realized Allie was with us. He ran over and hugged her, nearly knocking her over. He gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"You're alive!" Cassie cried. "How'd you get here so fast?"

Allie tore herself away from Marco's arms. "It's a long story. One that I've been meaning to tell you guys about."

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	13. Allie

****

CHAPTER 13

Allie

A YEAR AGO I WAS IN THE CAR with my parents and my brother was driving. We swerved to miss a deer in the road and ended up hitting a semi truck."

"How awful," Cassie gasped.

It was hard to talk about it, but I had to. Rachel was right, I was hiding too much from my new friends. It was time for me to come clean, all or nothing. The six of them sat in Cassie barn, listening attentively.

I took a deep breath. I never told anyone about this before. My voice was shaking all most as much as my hands. I hugged myself so no one would notice how difficult this was.

"My parents were killed instantly. My brother was only a little beat up and bruised, but I was suffering from major internal bleeding and I wasn't going to make it through the next day.

"I guess that when the Ellimist first approached me I thought it was God or something. He tried to explain himself but I was on so many drugs it was next to impossible for me to comprehend what he was saying - at least that's what I thought. He told me he could give me a special power that I could use to help save the world.

"He told me - well, showed me, I guess - everything that the animorphs had accomplished. I knew everything. He said he had found a way to let me live and join his army to fight evil all over the galaxy.

"I said no the first time. I was in unimaginable pain and I was ready to die. I knew my parents were dead but I didn't know about my brother. The Ellimist told me he was going to show me something that would change my mind."

"He took me through the entire year from the day I died to the anniversary of my death. My brother lived, if you could even call it that. He turned into a drunk and drug addict because he blamed himself for our deaths. He couldn't deal with reality and -" my voice choked. I tried to hide a sniffle. "He took his own life on the day I died, a year later."

"Then the Ellimist took me a year into the future if I decided to become an animorph. I saw everything for the next year until I met up with the six of you. But there was a catch. My brother had to become a Yeerk, and so did I.

"So I accepted it. I had no choice. I would rather turn my brother into a Yeerk slave and seeing him live than let him die. And I knew that if I joined the animorphs there was a chance I could save him. So now he's a voluntary host.

"And so are you," Rachel said. "We saw you at the Yeerk pool. We followed you after school one day."

I was surprised, but I was glad she was being honest. "But the Ellimist didn't make me a Yeerk. This may be really hard for you to believe, but I have a machine in my head that acts as a Yeerk. It's this machine that keeps me alive. I don't know how it does it, but without it I would be dead. It doesn't control my thoughts and I can take it out at any time. I can take it out, if you like."

Jake shifted uneasily on the hay stack he was sitting on. "I know that after everything that's happened we should trust you, but we still have to be cautious."

Yes, please take it out, Ax suggested. I am very curious. I would like to study it.

"Okay," I replied.

I closed my eyes. All I had to do was think of it coming out of my ear and it did so, very easily. It slithered into my hands. They all stared with wonder. I gulped for air. I was extremely dizzy, removing it always took a lot out of me. I was lucky I didn't pass out. I handed it to Jake and sat down on a nearby pail.

"There. That's it."

Jake, with a disgusted look on his face, passed it to Ax. He stared at it with all four of his eyes. This is very advanced technology. Completely flawless. It must have been created by the Ellimist himself.

So do you have to go to the Yeerk pool every three days? Tobias asked.

I shook my head, a big mistake. I almost got to see my dinner all over again. "No, just once a month. It's not a hassle. My brother and I would go together about one every two weeks or so. The other times he just assumes that I go by myself or with friends."

"So why is he a voluntary host? Because he doesn't want to deal with the pain of living after the accident?" Marco questioned.

"No, though I suppose that would be a good reason. He is a voluntary host - and I am too- because he takes care of me after I go to the Yeerk pool. _Paul _takes care of me, the real Paul. It's only for a short time but it worth it."

"What do you mean he takes care of you?" Rachel asked, handing me my "life support" machine.

"Well, even though the Yeerk is out of my head for such a short time, my body begins to shut down, like I'm dying all over again. Once I get the Yeerk back inside me head it takes time for me to recover."

"So that's why you were sick last night," Marco said. He blushed. "We kinda followed you home too. Uh...sorry."

I shrugged. "No problem. I should have just come clean with all of you in the first place." I let the slug slither back into my ear. The disorientation returned for a moment. "And that's how I got here."

Whoa, Tobias said. That's really heavy.

I turned to Rachel. I wasn't sure if she had told the others about the Crayak, but I hoped that she wouldn't mind me mentioning it. "I knew that I had to persuade Rachel not to join the Crayak. I knew it would be tempting because he has the abilities to alter minds. I know this, because I know who his new member of his team is. Asking Rachel to join him was just suppose to be a distraction because he owed a favor to the new member of his team. My brother."

"How do you know it's your brother?" Cassie asked.

"When the Ellimst showed me everything that would happen in the year where I lived, I saw how the Crayak approached him and convinced him to join his team. If Rachel had accepted his offer, there's no telling what he would have done with her."

"So the Ellimist was right," Marco said. "You did prove to be a valuable member to our team. You have inside information, a fake Yeerk in your head, and you can double morph."

"I guess. But I'm inexperienced, and my brother is my enemy. And now I know how Jake feels."

I have one last question, Ax said.

"What is it?" I whispered. I needed to lie down. It was getting harder and harder to stay awake. I was exhausted from the nights events and from taking my Yeerk out.

Did you kill Voxfra?

There was silence. "I don't know. I made him bleed, that's for sure."

How did you get out alive? Tobias asked.

"I double morphed into a fly. They completely missed me. They were all looking for an Andalite. I was lucky, I guess."

Rachel stood up. "Listen Allie, I'm really sorry for being such a pain. I mean it, I made things so complicated."

"That's okay." I smiled and tried to stand up, but flopped back down on the pail.

"Are you all right?" Cassie asked, rushing to my side.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry."

Jake gestured toward the door. "I'm beat. We all need to get home and get a good night's sleep."

"Jake's right," Marco said, helping me up. "Come on, Allie. I'll walk you home." He took my arm and draped it over his shoulder, letting me lean on him for support. I was grateful.

And for the first time since the car accident, it felt like things were right in the world. I had new friends who I could be totally honest with and newfound hope that even though I may have killed my brother, I could save others like him. And with him out of the picture, it would be a lot easier.

But it didn't make me feel any better or miss him any less.

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


	14. Marco

****

CHAPTER 14

MARCO

I was helping Allie get settled on the couch when the phone rang. I quickly picked up her cordless phone and gave it too her.

She was looking frail and weak but I had a new sense of her bravery and her strong will. I liked her for the way she was and since she had been honest, I felt that I admired her even more than before. I had never lost faith that she was a good guy. I knew she was on our side.

After an "ohmigod" and a few "uh-huh's" she hung up the phone. I fluffed a few pillows and stuck them behind her head, propping her up so she could watch some tube.

"That was the hospital," she said. "They explained that my brother had been in an accident and he had to be flown by helicopter out of town for treatment. It looks like he's going to live."

Her face was cold, deep in thought. "Are you disappointed?"

"I don't know," replied. "I don't think I can try and kill him again, Marco. When I was in morph, I just kinda got lost in the snow leopard and let him do the work, like I wasn't really there. I don't know if I can bring myself to kill him again."

I patted her arm comfortingly. "You don't have to think about that now."

Allie closed her eyes. "You're right. I just should be happy to be alive."

She looked so beautiful lying on the couch. Something inside me stirred, a gesture of love, a finger of god, I'm not sure. I lifted my hand to her face. She opened her eyes and smiled at my touch.

"I'm happy you're alive."

I leaned closer to her and in an instant our lips were touching.

At that moment I felt I could kiss the old Marco goodbye. Sensitive Marco was making an appearance and I liked it. It was nice to trust Allie, to love her. It felt good.

I waited for her to fall asleep before I left. I learned a lot that night. About life, about family, about trust.

It was a good night.

****

The End

By & © 1999-2002 kel@twilightlost.net


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